Consequences

⟡seven⟡

   Brinley woke up on a dreary Thursday morning. The rain danced atop the roof of the motel as she swung her thin legs over the side of her bed. There was something off in the motel room, and it seemed to have spread not only to Brinley, but to her mother as well.

    When Brinley walked into the living area of the room, she found her mother, laying on the carpeted floor, with her laptop open beside her, and a quarter dranken bottle of vodka on the other side. Brinley investigated Connie's open computer. It couldn't have been long since she fell asleep, otherwise the computer would have turned off, or died. The only two tabs that were open on Connie's browser was a realtor website, and an online dating website.

    Obviously Connie had been house hunting for quite some time now. It had been exactly a month since the Jacobs family moved out to Fairborn, and she still couldn't find a reasonable place that she liked or felt safe living in. Connie hated living in the motel. Although the people were friendly, she often felt judged whenever she mentioned that she was staying in a motel to other people, even her own mother.

    The second tab, however, was a surprise to Brinley. She didn't believe that her mother could even look at another man after the nasty divorce she had just survived, let alone chat them up online. Once Brinley connected the dots between the vodka bottle, the half filled profile, and her passed out mother, she realized the drunken, and slightly comical, mistake her mother had almost made. Brinley took the laptop and closed the second tab, so that Connie did not have to be reminded of her mistake. Brinley then took a knit blanket that hung over the side of the couch and covered her tired body up.
-
    School was still hard for Brinley. She knew that being the new girl was difficult to deal with, she expected it to be hard, but when half of the students remembered her from eight years ago, and the other half had already heard rumors about her, it turned into a whole new kind of difficult.

    Elle Turner was one of the rumor-spreading-she-devils, according to Brinley. When the girls were a mere seven years old, Brinley found out that Elle's real name was Eleanor, which prompted her to tell everyone that Elle had a "grandma name". Ever since the playground rumors began, Elle had it out for Brinley.

    Apparently when Brinley had first left, Elle started spreading rumors non-stop about why Brinley had moved, and none of them were innocent white lies.

    Holden had been making Brinley's time in Fairborn enjoyable, however. He made it a point to hang out with Brinley as much as possible. So much so that Gina and Lia got annoyed with him taking their best friend away too often, and because of this, Brinley vowed to hang out with the two girls every night after school. The weekend, however, was Holden's time to shine, and shine he did.

    The weekend before Brinley found her mother passed out in the living room, Holden had outdone himself.
-
    "Just tell me where we are going, or I swear on my mother's life I will jump out of this goddamn car." Brinley threatened the smirking boy, who looked like he was anything but threatened.

    "You wouldn't." Holden laughed.

    "Try me." Brinley put on the most serious voice that she could muster up. She placed a thin hand on the silver door handle and looked out to the highway, making her acting seem convincing enough.

    "Okay! Jesus! Do you want a hint?" Holden put his right hand out to grab her, but instead he awkwardly touched her bare thigh. Holden quickly removed his hand, and placed it in his own lap, praying that she didn't question his actions.

    Thankfully, Brinley didn't mention it, even though she did notice his red cheeks, and felt her own heating up. She nodded her head, and Holden continued.